'Why this day?' Man charged with attempting to kill his family in Tesla cliff plunge

REDWOOD CITY -- A man who allegedly drove his Tesla off a San Mateo County cliff near Devil's Slide with his family inside was formally charged Monday with three counts of attempted homicide, prosecutors said.

San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe made the announcement in the case that has had several twists and turns since the January 2nd crash.

Dharmesh A. Patel, his 41-year-old wife, the couple's 7-year-old daughter, and 4-year-old son somehow all miraculously survived the plunge down a 250-foot oceanside cliff south of Pacifica that left the Tesla a pile of twisted metal on the rocky shore.

"The evidence supports the fact that he intentionally drove his vehicle over that cliff," said Wagstaffe. "The people driving behind him described to us in great detail about the vehicle's movements, lack of brake lights, things of that nature."

Dharmesh Patel complaint:

Investigators said the Tesla appeared to have flipped a few times after hurling over the cliff before landing on its wheels, wedged against the cliff just feet from the pounding surf.  

"The people driving behind him described for us very, very in good detail about the vehicle's movements, the fact of lack of brake lights, things of that nature," Wagstaffe said. "No. 2 on the Tom Lantos Tunnel there are cameras. So we have video showing the movement of the car after it left the tunnel, went up the hill, turned off of the road and then turned to go down the cliff."

The DA said he is not releasing that video to the media.  

As for a motive, Wagstaffe said: "That's still under investigation and details, specifically why now, why this day, I mean we know the motive was that he didn't want any of them to live any longer, is what we've charged. But what led to this, what has caused this, what was the trigger."

All four were hospitalized with serious injuries. Patel was officially booked on suspicion of attempted murder and child abuse the day after the crash while he was still hospitalized.

In a written statement, the California Highway Patrol said, "Based on the evidence collected, investigators developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act."

The crash took place around 10:50 a.m. The CHP was called to the area of Highway 1 south of the Tom Lantos tunnels on reports of a vehicle over the cliff. When first responders arrived, they found the Tesla about 250 to 300 feet down the cliff.

Emergency personnel located two adults and two children, who suffered injuries described as serious.

"We come out here unfortunately all too often for things like this," Brian Pottenger of the Cal Fire/Coastside Fire Protection District said Monday following the incident. "And this was a -- this was nothing short of a miracle today that they survived."

In a news release, the CHP said Tesla's auto-assistance features did "not appear to be a contributing factor" in the incident.   

The incident remains under investigation. Anyone who may have witnessed the incident is asked to call the CHP San Francisco Area office at 415-557-1094.

KPIX reporter Betty Yu contributed to this report